Pump Timer with Heater

[irving]

I am thinking of installing a Pump Timer on my pool system, and was wondering if it's important to have my gas heater shut off prior to my pump motor. The heater does have a pressure switch which shuts down the heater if the pump is not running. Someone mentioned to me that the pump should run for about 10 minutes after the heater is shut down, to not leave hot water in the heater pipes.

Thanks in advance for the advice - Irving

 

[Bama Rambler]

Imagine if it was firing hard and all of a sudden the pump shut down. How hot would the water get and all the components get with no water flow through it? Yes, it needs to have a firemans switch.

 

[irving]

Thanks

 

[mickey4paws]

Hi Irving, welcome to TFP

We just turn off the heater about 20 minutes or so before the pump shuts down for the night, or if we're done swimming, we'll turn off the heater then.

Dave, what is a fireman's switch and are they easy to install? I would ask my pool builder to install it but just want to know if it's something simple or more complicated.

 

[Bama Rambler]

It's a switch on the timer that shuts the heater down. Some timers can be retrofitted with one if it doesn't already have one.

 

[ps0303]

How often do you feel that the heater is running when the timer might shut off? Granted it is wise to put a firemans switch in if you can. Also consider that once a heater gets the water to temp and it's not firing, shutting the heater off and letting the pump run really isn't cooling it down much if at all. I see thousands of systems a year that have no firemans switch in place and they have been ok. Many of these are new pool installs and the builder never integrated it into their plans. Heck they probably have no idea what a firemans switch is. Plus if it's not code, they don't do it.